BREAKING NEWS Close associate of Osama bin Laden, Khaled al-Harbi, surrenders to Saudi security officials in Tehran, Saudi official says. Details soon.
I was just thinking what a nice podium ornament it would be to have Osama's head on a pike for W's convention speech.
Must-see TV. Even I would watch that!
Here is an analysis of the terrorists on the most wanted list in Saudi :
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=48267&d=13&m=7&y=2004&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
From Afghan Caves to Kingdom's Streets Raid Qusti, Arab News
RIYADH, 13 July 2004 - Two weeks remain of the one-month amnesty announced on June 23 for terrorists to surrender.
So far only one terrorist on the most-wanted list has turned himself in. Ayed Al-Qarni, a well-known religious scholar, recently told a local daily that he expected many more wanted suspects to surrender under the amnesty.
"The coming days will witness the surrender of many on the wanted list," he told Al-Riyadh newspaper.
His views were shared by Safar Al-Hawali, who said that the fair manner in which terror suspect Othman Al-Amri was treated by government officials would encourage others to give themselves up.
The amnesty announced by the government comes after the arrest and killing of a number of terror suspects, in particular the Al-Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, who was gunned down with three henchmen hours after they beheaded US hostage Paul Johnson. He was the third leader of the group in the Kingdom in 12 months.
Interior Minister Prince Naif has said the amnesty is a sign of strength, not weakness and a chance for the terrorists to return to the right path and be tried according to Shariah.
Saudi analysts who have studied the background of the 26 suspects on the Interior Ministry's most wanted list have concluded that they can be classified into three main groups.
Combat Leaders: These are most likely to take the position of a leader of the group and have had experience fighting in Afghanistan or Bosnia. In descending order of importance, they are: Saleh Al-Oufi, who has replaced Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin as the Al-Qaeda leader in the Kingdom, according to a statement from the group; Kareem Al-Mujati, a Moroccan, who is more experienced but believed to be abroad; Rakan Al-Saikhan, who was killed on April 12, in Riyadh’s Al-Faiha district.
Spiritual Leaders: People in this group do not have combat skills, but provide spiritual support to the rest of the group. They are: Faris Al-Zahrani, Abdullah Al-Rashoud, Sultan Al-Otaibi, Eissa Al-Owshan, Abdul Majeed Al-Munei.
Field Combatants - First Degree: They fight but do not have the skills to be combat leaders. They are Talib Al-Talib, Abdulrahman Al-Yaziji, Abdullah Al-Subei, Bandar Al-Dakheel, Saud Al-Otaibi, Hussein Al-Hasaki (a Moroccan).
Field Combatants - Second Degree: Six men who lack the skills of the two former groups. Those who have been killed in the past year or who have surrendered, belong to this group:
Amir Al-Shehri: His corpse was found buried near the Riyadh-Kharj road on Dec. 23, 2003
Talal Anbari: Killed in an April 22 shootout in Jeddah.
Ahmed Al-Fadli: Killed in the April 22 shootout.
Khaled Al-Qurashi: Killed in the April 22 shootout.
Mustafa Mubaraki: Killed in the April 22 shootout.
Nasir Al-Rashid: Killed days after the raid in Riyadh's Al-Faiha district, on April 12.
Ibrahim Al-Rayyes: Killed on Dec. 6, 2003, in Riyadh.
Othman Al-Amri: Surrendered on June 28.
Mansour Faqeeh: Surrendered on Dec. 30, 2003.
A review of the background of the 26 most wanted terrorists reveals that 13 of them were from Riyadh, nine of them from the notorious Al-Suwaidi district. At least nine of the suspects were graduates or teachers of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.
Thirteen of the most-wanted terrorist suspects are still on the loose. They are:
Saleh Al-Oufi: Married with several children. He has replaced Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin as leader of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Oufi worked as a security guard for the Ministry of Interior but was fired. He came under the influence of radical Islamist ideology in 1993 before leaving to fight in Afghanistan in 1994. He was known for being an influential person, and for being able to persuade others, especially his own tribesmen, to join the fight in Afghanistan. In 1996 he opened a car showroom in Madinah whose proceeds enabled him to travel to the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and other countries, using his business as a cover-up for terrorist activities. In Afghanistan he was shot in the head.
Unconfirmed reports say that he had met with Osama Bin Laden and Taleban leader Mulla Omar shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. He escaped from Afghanistan and returned to Saudi Arabia after the United States started bombing Afghanistan and toppled the regime there. Reports say that he could have been among the terror suspects who fled Riyadh’s Al-Jazirah district after security forces raided a hideout and arms store there.
Kareem Al-Mujati: An explosives expert. He is considered to be one of the most dangerous remaining suspects, and the most qualified to lead the group. But reports that he is abroad explain that Al-Oufi has succeeded Al-Muqrin instead. It is possible that Al-Qaeda will appoint him as the actual leader when he returns while keeping Al-Oufi as a front. This was the case with Khaled Al-Haj earlier who fronted the organization while Al-Muqrin was the actual leader running Al-Qaeda operations.
The suspect is a wealthy Moroccan. His mother is French and his wife is an American. He is considered to be the No. 1 suspect responsible for the Morocco blasts on May 16 last year.
Faris Al-Zahrani: One of the most prominent ideologues of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. He is 27 years old, married with two children. He graduated from the Shariah College of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Abha branch. He is also wanted for embezzlement of SR500,000.
Abdullah Al-Rashoud: The No. 2 Al-Qaeda ideologue in Saudi Arabia. He is a 36-year-old graduate of IMSIU’s science college in Al-Namas, in the south of the Kingdom. He was jailed in 1997 for two months on charges related to takfeer (accusing others of being infidels.)
Eisa Al-Oushan:From Riyadh, he is married with three children. He worked as a judge in Jizan after graduating from IMSIU.
Saud Al-Otaibi: He is married and father to seven children. He was known to be religious since he was very young. The suspect moved between Yemen and Saudi Arabia and afterward left to fight in Afghanistan in the late 90s.
Talib Al-Talib: From Buraidah, Qassim, he is 26 years old. He dropped out of IMSIU to fight the US forces in Afghanistan. However, Iranian authorities captured him in the attempt to return to Saudi Arabia through Iran. He was extradited to Saudi Arabia and imprisoned. After his release, he joined the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and worked as an imam in a mosque in Buraidah. He disappeared several months after his marriage and has not been seen since.
Sultan Al-Otaibi: From Riyadh, he also goes by the alias "Abi Abdul Rahman Al-Athri." The suspect specializes in writing letters and leaflets that support Al-Qaeda's work in the Kingdom.
Bandar Al-Dakheel: The brother of Faisal Al-Dakheel, who was killed along with Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin near a gas station in the Al-Malaz district, Riyadh, last month. He is 23 years old and an intermediate school dropout.
Abdullah Al-Subaei: He was a junior student in IMSIU. He is 23 years old and disappeared last year.
Abdul Majeed Al-Munei: From Riyadh, he is 25 years old and another graduate of IMSIU. He learned his combat skills during years spent fighting in Afghanistan.
Abdul Rahman Al-Yaziji: He comes from Jizan. Aged 26 years, he disappeared one year after his marriage. He is the cousin of the terror suspect Abdul Kareem Al-Yaziji who was 19th on a list of terror suspects provided by the Ministry of Interior in May last year. His cousin was among the suicide bombers of last year's May 12 explosions that rocked Riyadh.
Hussein Hasaki: A Moroccan national who entered Saudi Arabia illegally. The only information known about him is that there are connections between him and the other Moroccan terror suspect Kareem Al-Mujati.
